1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments disclosed herein relate generally to liners for pickup truck beds, sport utility vehicles, vans, and trailers. Specifically, embodiments disclosed herein relate to a hybrid truck bed liner, encompassing benefits of both drop-in and spray-in liners.
2. Background
Bed liners are commonly used to protect the bed or cargo area of a vehicle from detrimental physical impacts, surface abrasion, or corrosion due to reactive chemicals. Liner products have been used in SUV or van cargo areas, cabinets (such as for the storage compartments of a fire engine or a boat), and, most commonly, in the beds of pickup trucks.
Liners for cargo areas may include carpeting or other textiles, such as a trunk liner. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,721,177 discloses nonwoven moldable composites for use as a trunk liner. The nonwoven composite may be made by admixing and encapsulating reinforcement fibers with a thermoplastic resin formed from melted and compressed thermoplastic fibers having a melting point less than the melting point of the reinforcement fibers. A decorative or reinforcing covering material, such as carpets, cloths, and the like, may also be attached to the nonwoven composite. Other examples of textiles that may be used to line a trunk or cargo area are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,818,586, 5,436,064, 5,492,580, and 5,600,974. Many of these textiles, however, do not have the impact or chemical resistance, such as may be obtained with a rubberized non-skid surface, desired for use in the beds of pickup trucks.
Liners commonly used in pickup trucks generally include “spray-in” and “drop-in” liners. Drop-in liners are a pre-formed rigid plastic component that form-fits the bed to be protected. Drop-in liners are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,692,054, 6,237,980, 4,575,146, 4,540,214, 4,181,349, RE32,198, and others. Spray-in liners are formed by spraying a polymer coating into the truck bed or vehicle cargo area and then curing the polymer coating. Spray-in liners are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,613,389, 6,533,189, and 6,126,999, among others.
Although serving to protect the cargo areas covered, the above described liners also have drawbacks. For example, spray-in liners generally require professional installation including an initial scuffing or sand-blasting of the surface prior to installation to ensure the formation of a permanent bond between the liner and the truck bed. Other negative aspects of spray-in liners may include overspray, health issues (such as from the use of isocyanates), poor consistency of the finished product, masking of the truck bed, the need for complex equipment, and the overall appearance of the final product. Additionally, the permanence of the installation means that if any damage, fading (“chalking”), or staining of the liner occurs, an expensive liner removal process may be necessary to restore the liner's appearance.
Drop-in liners also have various drawbacks. For example, drop-in liners often require the drilling of holes in the body of the bed for installation, thus exposing portions of bare metal in the bed and possibly imparting rust-initiating stress in the metal. Further, drop-in liners typically have slick surfaces, allowing unwanted sliding of cargo in the bed. Furthermore, water, salt, sand, and grit may get under the bed liner, causing damage (e.g., rust), and vibration of a poor-fitting drop-in liner may also damage the bed of the truck. Moreover, the bulky drop-in liners, tailored for each pick-up truck model, are difficult and costly for manufacturers and retailers to store and ship. Additionally, among other drawbacks, drop-in liners may crack or warp. Drop-in liners, due to their removable nature, have also reportedly blown out of the beds of pickup trucks at high driving and wind speeds.
Several of these drawbacks are acknowledged in previous attempts to minimize their impact. For example, bed mats have been proposed to minimize the movement of cargo on the liner during use, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,988,723 and 5,695,235, or to minimize the rubbing between the liner and the cargo bed, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,431,629. Multi-piece or flexible bed liners have been proposed to minimize the storage and shipping of bed liners, such as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,806,909, 4,986,590 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20020149223. And, removable bed liners, such as liners magnetically attached to the truck bed, or liners temporarily attached using suction cups, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,806,909 and 4,279,439, respectively. A composite bed liner formed from spray-in and drop-in components is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,093,875 and 6,840,559. However, each of these solutions may result in additional installation cost, may be ineffective at preventing impact or corrosive damage, or may itself result in further damage to the bed.
Furthermore, the touted benefits of the various liners are often used to persuade the end-user (customer) in their choice of bed liners. For example, drop-in liners, in comparison to spray-in liners, better distribute the force of impacts, are better at protecting the surface from dents, are less expensive than spray-in liners, may be removed, and may be installed by a vehicle owner after market. Spray in liners, in comparison to drop-in liners, seal the bed surface, preventing water, salt, sand, and grit from getting between the liner and the surface, causing damage. Thus, there is a desire in the industry for a bed liner that encompasses the benefits of both drop-in and spray-in liners.